Love
by AquaWater99
Summary: What's Sesshomaru's final reaction to Rin's question of "Do you love me?" after so many years? Note: NOT THAT kind of love, the family kind of love! Spoiler: Manga chapter 558


**Warning - Spoiler: Manga chapter 558**

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"Sesshomaru-sama, do you love me?"

Sesshomaru inwardly scoffed at the most ridiculous question his ward had ever asked. Love her? She was a filthy ningen, a race that had interbred with demons for millenniums, part of a race that had tainted them, hated them, destroyed them.

"Don't ask such pointless questions, Rin. Let's go."

As Sesshomaru pivoted on his heel and set off, he could hear Jaken squawking in the distance to Rin about the complete stupidity of a 7-year-old's questions, and that one's curiosity should not be dirtied in front of the noble Sesshomaru-sama.  
Sesshomaru sighed, and threw a rock over his shoulder without glancing back. He didn't need to be confirmed further if the rock had met its target or not, after the loud, painful yelp that issued from his retainer.

--

"Rin, I want you to stay with Kaede... -sama here at this village. You'll be a large amount safer, and you can learn something useful that will later aid you in life."

As Rin sobbed enough tears to fill the world's nightmares for the next few centuries, Sesshomaru blinked rapidly a few times,  
looking down at the little onnanoko clutching to his hakama like it was her life, and it would fade if she even released it a tendril.

But all things had to pass. Sesshomaru pried Rin's clutched fists gently from his pants, and spoke to Kaede privately.

"If Rin ever receives so much as an annoying scratch on her body, you can be sure you and your village's death will be the first thing the sunlight hits on the next day."

Poor Rin screamed with torture, having not heard the one sentence Sesshomaru had murmured to Kaede.

--

"Good job, Rin. Now, you ground the roots like this with this grounder. Just like this... now you try, Rin. Yes, yes, good job!! Keep on doing that until you have a nice liquid in there. I'm going to go check on the patient."

Rin sighed softly as Kaede shuffled away. Her mind kept lingering to Sesshomaru-sama without conscious thought. Why had he left her here. It wasn't like she was complaining that Kaede's village was the worst place she'd ever been, but why, why,  
why had Sesshomaru forgotten her after about a year or two in his care? He had always told her that it was Rin's own choice where she wanted to stay, but he seemed to have forgotten his own words now.

_He really doesn't love me. That time so many years ago... when I asked him if he loved me... he really didn't then..._

Just then, Rin was interrupted by a knock on the door. She opened the wooden knob, and there stood a man, a about three feet taller than she was, with a bundle nestled in his right arm.

"Sumimasen, I need to see a girl named Rin."

"You've found her," Rin said quietly.

"Rin?! You're Rin?! That's impossible! Such a small girl! How could that nobleman have noticed such insignificance?!"

Rin winced at the man's stunned insults, and instead, asked, "What's inside that bundle?"

"This? Oh, I was said to deliver this to the onnanoko named Rin. Since... ah, you claim to be here, I guess I must give this to you then. That nobleman was radiating confidence. I'd better follow what he said," the man blundered out.

_Nobleman radiating confidence! Of course - Sesshomaru-sama!! How could I've not noticed the first time?!_

Rin, suddenly afraid of what might be inside the bundle, merely stared at it. What could her lord have given her? Hadn't he "abandoned" her here?

A minute passed, and Rin finally peeled the bundle's outer layer away, with caution. And out fell - a kimono. But this was familiar kimono. Rin scratched her head, thinking, wondering where she had seen such a kimono. Finally, she gave up, and put the kimono on.

--

Far, far away, at the edge of a cliff, Sesshomaru closed his eyes as wind whipped over him.

"This is a last gift for you, Kagura. I've let my ward wear your clothes... so I may forever remember you..."

The whispers of a taiyoukai barely lingered, before they were swept away by the fierce kaze into the valley. Turning around,  
Sesshomaru set off at a fast pace back to his retainer and Ah-Un. But his thoughts were not on those two demons. Instead,  
like the wind, they whooshed toward a ningen.

_Rin, Rin, Rin. Asking if I loved her._

Sesshomaru glanced back once more at the cliff, where the winds had died down some. Across the valley and beyond those mountains was where he had left part of his heart. But it had to be that way. For it was just the way fate had twisted their destinies.

"I will always love you, Rin."

--

Translations:

hakama: a type of Japanese, "flowing" pants

kimono: the Japanese, traditional dress

kaze: wind

ningen: human

onnanoko: girl

-sama: used for an extremely important person

sumimasen: excuse me

youkai: demon

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(Author's note: Sorry, sorry for not updating in months! A large lack of interest. I apologize again. I hope I'll be able to update a lot more this summer!)


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